Henry Fonda, center, the indelible Everyman at the heart of 'The Grapes of Wrath.'

'The Grapes of Wrath'

1940

Who made it: Directed by John Ford. With Henry Fonda, Jane Darwell.

Audience appeal:12 and up

Once upon a time: The Joads are used to hard times, trying to coax a living out of their hardscrabble Oklahoma farm, but nothing could have prepared them for the dust storms, or the Depression. Pushed off their land, they take to the road, heading for California in search of work, and the chance of a better life. But some trouble is just going to follow them — and new challenges lie ahead..

Inappropriate material: It's mostly suggested, but there is violence, and the threat of it.

Why kids will like it: : No, it's not exactly a laugh riot. (Although the youngest Joads do get into some amusing trouble with a new-fangled bathroom.) But children respond immediately and passionately to injustice, and that's the current that carries this story along — as the hard-working Joads are bullied and taken advantage of by people with just a little more power and a lot less heart.

Why adults will like it: One of John Ford's finest films, with cinematography by the great Gregg Toland — who shot "Citizen Kane," among other classics — that could stand alongside the Depression photographs of Dorothea Lange. (Look, particularly, at Toland's use of natural light, and the stark black-and-white contrasts). Star Henry Fonda — in the role he should have won the Oscar for — is truly iconic as Tom Joad, and Jane Darwell the mother of all Earth Mothers as the massive, indomitable Ma. And, as usual, Ford provided some fine parts to character actors, including John Qualen as a broken farmer, and John Carradine as the film's radicalized preacher.

Fast forward/freeze frame: You might need to explain the basic facts of the Depression — although to some modern families, stories of job loss and foreclosures may seem painfully familiar.

Fun trivia: John Steinbeck's novel had been attacked for its leftist message, particularly by big California farmers, and studio mogul Darryl F. Zanuck worried about protests. (Using the conservative Ford was partly insurance.) So, before shooting began, Zanuck sent investigators around to migrant camps to see if things were as bad as Steinbeck said; he was told that, if anything, they were even worse. (Interestingly, though, the film was still banned — in the Soviet Union, because Stalin thought it painted a rosy picture of American life.).

Teachable moments: The film is toned down from Steinbeck's book, which pushes its politics a little harder, and ends on a far starker note. Older readers, though, might want to give it a try, or at least introduce themselves to the author with "Of Mice and Men."

Double features: It's mostly known to hard-core film buffs, but seek out "Wild Boys of the Road," from director William Wellman, an astonishingly grim 1933 drama about teenage hobos that was made in the depths of Depression, and captures the despair unsparingly.